Posts Tagged ‘Spiritual’

This one is very easy to forget. Why? Because if we have any God-given desire to see the lost saved, we will be out there sharing, trying to get them to receive what we are sharing in hopes that they might be saved.

However, we must all be reminded (I believe continually) that the unregenerate person cannot receive nor understand the things of God which are spiritual. How many hours have we spent trying to convince the natural man, with his natural mind, to understand or believe spiritual things? It happens more than we care to admit for sure. We so easily fall into trying to “convince” them of the truth’s of God. If we are not careful, we would even find ourselves getting into a doctrine debate with one who has yet to be born again. That’s futile.

We have to review the scriptures on a regular basis and be reminded of the fact that they must be born of the Spirit first. This is the starting place. Thus, the great need of sharing the gospel. Always being led to steer the conversation back to their need of being saved first. If not, its guaranteed that we will fall into trying to convince a spiritually dead person to receive and understand spiritual things. It just doesn’t work that way. It was never designed to. The need for Christ is always first.

There are several scriptures we could look at to back this all up with, but we are going to use only a couple here.

First off, I always like to start with the book of John, chapter 3. The very popular story of Nicodemus. Without taking a lot of time on this story, only a few very important points to be reminded about here. Basically, Nicodemus was a teacher of the Jewish religion. No doubt, a very well-educated man. But, our main focus here should be the fact that he was unregenerate like anyone else. His status in life makes no difference here unless you are speaking with someone who thinks that by their religion they can be saved.

After Nicodemus had said to Jesus, “for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him”, Jesus’ reply is very key here for our reminder. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. That little three-letter word is of extreme importance here.

SEE: “to see, to know, (have) knowledge, perceive, understand”.

Without being born again first, one cannot SEE the kingdom (realm) of God.

Another scriptural reminder is found in 1 Corinthians the second chapter. Again, some very popular verses that we probably have heard countless times. However, we must be reminded if we are going have an effect on the lost for the kingdom, we must get this.

The whole chapter (2) is good and is highly recommended here, but we will only focus on a few verses.

Verse 9 is a good starting point. The apostle Paul referring to the prophet Isaiah says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, (what?) the things which God has prepared for those that love him.”

The word “seen” in its spiritual application here is “to see, discern, perceive“. The word “heard” also has to do with “discern, perceive, understand“.

“the things which God has prepared”….. The spiritual things of God.

In the next verse, verse 10, he says, “But God has revealed them to us (who?) (how?) by his Spirit: for theSpirit searches all things, yep (added), the deep things of God. By His Spirit they can and are revealed. But only, by His Spirit. We can even know the “deep things of God” if He chooses to reveal them to us. (I will add this though, He knows our heart, the motivations of our heart as to why we want to know the deep things of God. And if there is any wrong, prideful motives, he will not reveal. He does not bypass unholy motives.

In verse 11, he divides the natural man with the Spirit of God. He says that no man can know the things of God except through the Spirit. Its point-blank.

Verse 12 is to all those who have received the Spirit of God that they might know the spiritual things of God which are freely given to us. And I might add here, that in verse 13, it is very important to take notice that “the Holy Spirit (Ghost) teaches“. Man can and has taught, but it can only come through the one who has been born of the Spirit. One who is living in the Spirit and not of the “spirit of the world”. It only comes through a spiritual vessel.

Ok, I am just about finished here. I never have liked “long posts” so I must end here. And this is the way to sum up our study here with a final verse (14) that does truly make its point very clear.

“But the natural man (one who has not been regenerated) receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them (why?), because they are spiritually discerned.”

So there it is. Man must be born again of the Spirit of God before he can understand, perceive, know, anything about God and his kingdom (realm). Thus the great need to get the gospel out to all those who He leads you to. Spend little time in debating with an unbeliever. Listen a lot. Remain in the Spirit. Speak only what is given by the Spirit of God to them.

Our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1Cor.2:5). The power of God is the Spirit of God, by which it is revealed. Only through the Spirit of God can we know the mind of God (2:11). The wisdom of God is revealed in mysterious ways. It is hidden from those who are void of the Spirit of God. The hidden mysterious wisdom of God is only revealed through His Holy Spirit (vs.10). Just as the spirit of man knows the mind of man, the mind of God is only known by the Spirit of God (vs.11), hence, “God is Spirit”. Thus, only by the Spirit can we receive anything from God.

The things about God that we discuss are not dependant on the knowledge of man’s words or wisdom, but it’s dependant upon the teaching of the Spirit (The Teacher). Spiritual things are revealed to the spiritually minded (vs.13). The natural man (one void of the Holy Spirit) rejects spiritual things; they are foolishness to him. His natural mind cannot understand. His intellect cannot even come close to perceiving spiritual things. They are like oil and water, they don’t mix. No wonder he gets frustrated.

The one who has been born again which includes being “born of the Spirit” (Jn.3:3-8) discerns everything, yet no man can discern him (1Cor.2:15). Also, who may teach this kind of stuff, the mind of the Lord? Those who have the mind of Christ, by being born of the Spirit (vs.16).

As recorded in the four gospels, Jesus was always trying to get people to understand things spiritually. But. most often, they didn’t get it. As I understand it today, there seems to be a lot of the same. It’s almost if some people are afraid of the spiritual. Maybe it’s because they have been taught, “oh that’s spirituality, and we must stay way far away from that”. Forgetting of course, that God is Spirit, and that it takes a birth of the Spirit to understand/perceive the kingdom, and most importantly, enter. (Jn. 3:3, 5)

One of my favorite teachings of Jesus regarding the spiritual, is where he taught on the “bread of heaven” or the “bread of God from heaven” as found in John chapter 6. It really gets heavy when He speaks about “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53). After this discourse many of his disciples said, “This is a hard (or difficult) saying; who can understand this?”. Well, if we all were hearing this and we were looking at it from a natural point of view, we would say the same, right?

Then, if that wasn’t enough, Jesus said, “Does this offend you? (vs.61). If to say, what! are you offended at my flesh and blood? Are you offended at me for saying or trying to get you to see things “spiritually?”

Now, this is where it gets right down to the heart of the matter. In verse 62, he basically says, what’s the big deal if you see the Son of Man go up to heaven? I mean, isn’t that pretty big? Verse 63, he hits the nail on the head, finally. And if to say out loud, Hello!! It’s Spirit!! Somebody wake up!! This flesh profits nothing!! or basically we could say, the natural profits nothing!

The second part of this verse is KEY. “The words(Rhema, the utterness, the sayings, the commands, basically My spoken word) is to you “Spirit” and “Life”. But, He goes on and says, “there are some of you that don’t believe this”. Do you believe that the very words of Jesus are spirit and life? How many of us believe that today? Do we believe that Jesus is Spirit and Life?

In verse 65, He says that “No one can come to Me unless it is granted by My Father”. Now it was certainly getting too heavy for them.

Here’s a shocker! (verse 66). Many of His followers after hearing all this, threw in the towel. They left Him. They basically through up their hands and said, “that’s enough! We are outta here!”. “We can’t take all of this way out stuff”. “Jesus, you have gone mad with all the spirituality stuff!”

Then in verse 67, he says to the remaining twelve disciples, “Are you guys also going to split?”

Then, our good brother Peter jumps in and says basically, “Lord, if we cut out now after all this, where are we going to go? What’s left! Good question isn’t it? If we leave Jesus, where are we going to go?

Here’s the BOMB! and it’s back to the spoken words of the Christ! “You have the words (Rhema) eternal life” (vs.68). Basically, you have the Spirit words, or the words of the Spirit. The words of the Father by the Spirit.

Then Peter adds the “Also” in verse 69. Believe me, it’s a very big “also”. As if this wasn’t enough concrete evidence up till this point, he says, “we have come to believe and know”. Here we have two most very important truths. “Believing” and “Knowing”. It’s one thing to believe, but to believe and know is the rock solid part of “believing”. Without “knowing” how can it really be “believing?”. Can we say like the Apostle Paul, “for I know on whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day?” (2Tim.1:12b)

In order to hear from the Spirit of God within, one must be quiet in their spirit. If the mind is racing, their spirit is not quiet. It generally helps to not engage in drink or food that would cause the mind to race. Each one of us is different in our own physical makeup as to what we can handle or what causes our mind to race.

Remembering that one of the fruits of the Spirit is “peace”. (Gal.5:22). Where the Spirit is ruling over the flesh, there will be peace. If the fleshly man or women is taking the lead and the Spirit is in the back seat, of course there is going to be no quietness within.

Many times it comes right down to, “do I want to”. Do I want to hear what the Spirit is saying? How important is it to me?

I write a lot about “experiencing God as your living”. This of course, can take on countless forms with each one of us. The main thing is, are we experiencing God daily as we go out? Do we want to? Is it a priority in our life? Or, is the only time we experience God is in our church? Is that the only time we want to? Is that the only time we are accustomed to? The only time we are comfortable?

It is important to be reminded that God is everywhere we go. And, that He is about people. Most often when we go out the front door, we are going to run into people. People that God gave his Son for. Most often He chooses to work through his people. And, in any facet of life, He wants to work. Do we want Him to work through us? You know, if you’re not willing, He will surely find someone who will. If you’re not willing to be used, what will you miss out on? Blessings from Him. Not only in this life, but the next. Why should we wait for heaven, when we can experience Him now? Eternity with Him started the day we were born the second time. How much have you experienced Him in eternity?

The only reason I want to share my experiences, is that in the hope that someone will be blessed by them and be encouraged to get out, if they are not currently doing so. And if not so, may they be convicted in the right sense of the word to move out of their comfort zone by faith into the unknown. Being shy or uncomfortable is no excuse when you got the host of heaven behind you. A lack of faith is no excuse either.

Some of us are “street ministers”, but all of us who have been born the second time around are called to be ministers in some form or fashion.

May you see yourself as a minister of God’s love in the realm (kingdom) in which you are called.

Today started out like most any other day that I take to the streets. When I hit the pavement, I sensed that I was to visit a local coffee shop in which I haven’t been to in about two month’s. So, off I headed. It is about three blocks from where I live. When I got there, the owner was behind the counter. I had talked to her many times before. She knows a little bit about me, so today she says, “so are you going out to preach today?” I smiled and told her that I wasn’t sure and that a lot of times I don’t “preach”. I shared that what I really like to experience is the “one on one” divine appointments.

What little I know about her is that she definitely has some kind of religious background. When we have shared in the past, she has led on to that. So, I will continue to pray for her because our God knows just where we all are with Him. We see on the outside, but God looks on and knows the heart.

After leaving there, I proceeded to walk south to the downtown area. Soon, I noticed a car stuck in the middle of an intersection. I walked over to see if I could help. Her SUV was stuck in four-wheel drive. I offered some advice, but to no avail did it work. Finally, a couple walks up, and the girl knows just what to do, having had a truck very similar. So, she tells the lady what to do and woo-la, it works. The lady drives off, and we all go our separate ways. I said God bless you to the girl, and she said, thank you.

Finally, I get to a bus stop and wait there for the next bus. When I am waiting, I ask God what is going on here at this stop. There are a couple of people waiting also. I looked at one guy, then looked across the street. A couple of signs stood out as I read them. I heard the Spirit say, “tell him this”. As I was forming the words by the Spirit coming from the signs, I hesitated. I thought to myself, I haven’t given anybody some words since last week when I did to a lady on the train. Before that, it had been month’s. I am not, or at least to this point in my walk, not one of those who continually give out “words” from the Lord to people. I know that there are many that continually do so on a regular basis. I say, that is awesome. But like anything we do for the Lord, we must be sure we are continually checking in with Him so as to not fall into routine or with what is comfortable and or familiar.

I am one of those who do not like to “label” ministry. I know we do, but why? Does it have to have a label? In this case, I am referring to “Prophetic Ministry”. Isn’t prophetic ministry just hearing from the Lord and delivering what you hear? I know that it can be used both in the “body” and to those who have yet to come into the body. I prefer to just say that it is going out and being led of the Spirit, and saying or doing whatever He shows you, and how He shows you.

So, back to the guy at the bus stop. The words that the Lord gave me was, “the chic you have been seeing is sub-par for you”. So by His grace and help, I walked over to the guy and said, “excuse me, but I just heard these words for you”. He took his ear buds out and said, “what’s that?”. I said, “the chic you have been seeing is sub-par for you”. He smiled and said, “well, I don’t know about that”. I said, “well if it apply’s, use it. If not, throw it out”. Soon the bus came. As we were getting on he turned to me and said, “I am seeing many girls so I don’t know what to do with that”. I smiled and said, “He knows”. And we boarded the bus.

I thought to myself, so this is what we are in for today. Cool.

As I walked down the aisle to find a seat, I sensed that I was to sit next to this young girl, so I did. One minute into the ride, I looked up and saw a sign on the bus which the Lord gave me from it, “just because you are small is no reason to not reach for the TALL”. I knew she had ear buds in and I could hear her music. Then, I remembered, oh yeah I could write it out for her from the tablet I have in my coat pocket. So I did. She took and read it, then smiled and said, “thank you, I’m going to hang on to this one”. So she put it in her purse. She got off on the next stop and smiled and said thank you.

I thought to myself, this is fun. I can’t remember a time when this has happened in such rapid succession.

After getting on the train to go downtown, I stopped off at a market a short ways into the trip. I used the restroom, then grabbed something to eat. When I got in line to check out, my eyes fell on the lady that was a cashier. I thought to myself, “am I going to get something for her?”. I looked to my left then noticed a sign that said “zip” something. Then the Lord gave me this, “as you zip through life, don’t forget the one who created you”. When it was my turn I relayed that to her. She smiled and said, “I’m with you”. I smiled back and said, “oh that’s good!”.

Standing on the platform waiting for the train, my eyes looked upon this guy waiting also. We got on and he sat right above the area where I typically stand. I sensed that this was also a guy that the Lord would have a word for. I sensed that I was supposed to write this one out also and give it to him. I saw the word, “choose”. Then I heard, “choose close your friends”. I thought to myself, “does that make sence?”. Then I heard, “just give it to him”. So I did. He looked like he was of Asian decent, so I asked him if he understood. He said that he kind of did. Then, the Spirit gave me the interpretation, “be careful of the friends you choose”. When I said that to him, he smiled and said that he got it now.

As the train proceeded down the track, I noticed a guy had gotten on at the last stop. I waited on the Lord to see if there was anything for him. I looked to my left and noticed the words “emergency”. Soon I heard, “God will help you prepare for the coming emergency”. So, as the train was coming to the next stop I walked over to him to deliver the goods. He took his ear bud out and after I shared with him what I had, he said, “I’m an atheist”. I said something like, “well, God can work with that”.

Now this is the strange part with this particular guy. After I had given him the words and proceeded out the door, he just stood there if he was not going to get off the train at this particular stop. A few moments later, I look to my left and he goes walking by me with his bike. I soon see him and his bike riding off in a different direction. What was that all about? Was he going to stay on the train before receiving those words? It kinda seemed like it. I guess I will have to wait until someday to find out.

After getting off the train, I walked east to board another train. In route, I noticed some people waiting for a bus. I paused there and asked the Lord, “is there anybody here?”. My eyes fell on this girl with bright red ear phones on. On the side of the ear phones was the letter “b”. I heard, “boys don’t care”. I thought after that one, “what?”. I said to myself “whatever”. So the bus came and I went over and told her that. She stood there trying to understand it. The bus driver wondered if she was going to get on the bus or not. Finally she did.

This next one, I was really blessed by and so was the person that received it.

As I headed out east on the train, I had a vision of me standing in a book store in the mall. I was familiar with this store, having been there many times before. I saw myself standing in a particular location over by the restroom. People were going in and out. Then, I saw myself talking to a person.

So, I got off a few stops later and headed to the mall. But, when I hit the park, once again the Lord had me pray over this park. Long story short here, but that the Lord has done some awesome things here and is going to do some really way out stuff in the coming days. So I did my prayer walk and then headed into the mall.

I found the spot inside the bookstore. I stood there looking at the books and watching people go in and out of the restroom which was right next to where I was standing. I encouraged a few people as they went in and out. Then, I saw this big guy coming with his lady friend. He yells out, “hey are you in line?”. I smiled and said, “nope, no line here. It’s free and clear to go in though”. He smiled and walked in.

As he came out, I sensed that this was the guy that I had seen in my vision. So, I proceeded to speak as the Spirit gave me the words to say to him. Now, I have experienced this on countless times when the Spirit gives you the words to “preach” or to say to someone, and if you were asked to repeat them at a later time, you would not remember what it was that you did say. The jest, oh yeah, but not in its entirety. Such was the case again. The jest was that he was encouraged to get into the boat with Jesus and that it was serious. He had told me that he was “Native American” and said that it was all the same. I assured him that it was not and that it was all about Jesus.

I would occasionally look over at his friend and she was beaming from ear to ear. She was soaking up every word. The guy was totally captivated by the Spirit. When I gave him testimony about how I saw myself in a vision standing here talking to a guy, and then I said to him “YOUR THAT GUY!”. He was blown away to say the least. Forever changed? By faith I believe so!

Then, I proceeded to walk the top part of the mall. Soon, I passed a Starbucks and went in. As I came out and was putting my sugar and cream into my coffee, I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. I listened to him tell me about his kids. He shared how that two of them had been in the ROTC in high school. He then went into talking about the military in which he himself was once in. Soon, after listening to him share about what was important to him, he paused for a moment. I then said to him, “what have you done with Jesus in your life?”. He smiled and then went into his religious experiences in life. They were things like, he had a “Mormon” girl friend at one time. He now has a friend at work who is a “7th day Adventist”.

Soon the Spirit led me into sharing with him that it is not all about religion, and that it’s a spiritual kingdom. We shared things like, God is spirit, his kingdom is spiritual, and that it takes a spiritual birth to enter into and perceive it. He kinda agreed, but was also of the like persuasion of a “good person” will make it. We shared again that it was all about Jesus.

As if this day was already packed enough, we went by a reception desk in the mall and noticed a lady sitting there at the desk. Somewhere I spotted a sign that had something to do with “Give me your all”. So, she was busy with a customer, so I wrote it down and handed it to her and said, “the Lord wanted me to share this with you”.

Soon, I stopped off at the local Safeway store. The checker, whose name was John, was encouraged to read the book of John. I had originally asked him how he was doing. He said, “better than I deserve”. I said, “me too!”

After Safeway, I went across the street to Goodwill. I thought I was going there to see if they had a “water pot” because mine gave up the ghost last week. Once inside, I went to the back of the store. In route, I look to my left, and there was a guy that we have been working with to help him overcome his addictions. He made the commit, “who would have thought that we would both meet here?” I assured him that God is perfect and exact in all His ways. We aren’t.

On the way home on the train tonight, my eyes fixed on a guy up towards the front. As I looked around, I saw the word “Maximum”. I heard, “you can reach your maximum potential only with Me (God)”. I wrote it down and went up and handed it to him before the train got to the next stop. He left his ear buds in and refused to take it, but said “thanks”.

There was also this mother of two on the train. She had one in the stroller. I looked up and saw the word “overlook”. Then I heard, “Don’t overlook God’s blessings”. So, I shared it with her. She thanked me and I said, “you are blessed”. She smiled and left out the door and said, “have a nice evening!”. I said, “you too!”

So, we are ministers of the Spirit of God that is within us. And, if within us, then it must come out in some form or fashion. Remembering, that the Spirit of God is always fluid, always moving.